Stocks rose modestly Wednesday as investors considered a better-than-expected U.S. housing report, a mixed economic forecast from the Federal Reserve (Fed), and some positive corporate news. U.S. housing starts rose 2.8 percent in January to an annual rate of 591,000 units, an industry association reported. However, building permits, a measure of builder confidence, fell 4.9 percent to an annual rate of 621,000. The government reported that U.S. industrial production rose 0.9 percent in January after rising 0.7 percent the previous month. The Fed issued a revised economic forecast that saw gross domestic product (GDP) increase moderately to between 2.8 and 3.5 percent this year. The forecast also saw high U.S. unemployment for the next two years. The U.S. dollar gained versus the euro and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for March delivery rose 32 cents to $77.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for April delivery rose 20 cents to $1,119.50 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 40.43, or 0.4 percent, to 10,309.24. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.64, or 0.4 percent, to 1,099.51. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 12.10, or 0.55 percent, to 2,226.29. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 21.85 to 7,035.20. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 7.62 to 1,864.86. And the Russell 2000 index rose 3.99 to 624.83.
